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"Given that U.S. interest rates are now set in stone, the attraction of dividend payers should become universal," observes Howard Silverblatt, Standard & Poor's senior index analyst. And dividends do make a difference. From March 15, 1999, through Jan. 31 this year, the S&P 500 appreciated just 0.1% on a price-only basis. Factor in dividends, however, and the gain soars to 26.2%. In 2011, the index was flat on price alone, but up 2.1% after dividends.

Even more attractive are dividend payers that enrich their payouts. Last week brought another bevy of those, including
Fidelity National Information Services,
FIS 0.5857294994675186%Fidelity National Information Services Inc.U.S.: NYSEUSD75.56
0.440.5857294994675186%
/Date(1481320999416-0600)/
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
1447363AFTER HOURSUSD75.56
%
Volume (Delayed 15m)
:
9016
P/E Ratio
52.110344827586204Market Cap
24656488023.0872
Dividend Yield
1.3763896241397564% Rev. per Employee
158051More quote details and news »FISinYour ValueYour ChangeShort position
the world's No. 1 provider of banking and payments technologies. The company quadrupled its quarterly common payout to 20 cents a share. It had been paying a nickel since initiating disbursements in August 2003. The increase, which gives the stock a current yield of 2.6%, is worth an extra $180 million or so annually to investors.

Fidelity National (ticker: FIS) also authorized additional stock repurchases of up to $1 billion, replacing a buyback plan under which approximately $361 million remained outstanding.

The stock trades on the Big Board not far from its 52-week high of $33.76. Fidelity National tops the annual FinTech 100 ranking of financial-technology companies and is ranked third on the Barron's 500.

The media and entertainment conglomerate, which also is the No. 1 U.S. cable operator, sweetened its quarterly common payout 44%, to 16.25 cents a share from 11.25 cents. Comcast (CMCSA) resumed dividends in February 2008 at the rate of 6.25 cents a share after an eight-year hiatus, and this is the fourth boost since then. The company also announced a $6.5 billion share-repurchase plan, around $3 billion of which it expects to complete this year.

The Nasdaq-traded stock climbed 5% Wednesday and set a 52-week high of $29.05, for a modest 2.3% yield.

Bernstein Research senior analyst Craig Moffett said in a report that the real shocker was that Comcast lost only 17,000 subscribers from October to December, far better than Wall Street's consensus guess of 125,000, and its best quarterly result since 2007's first quarter. That probably owes to "solidly improving operations (a better and better video product) and the tailwind of a nascent recovery in new household formation," Moffett wrote. "Both are likely to continue to gather momentum."

Said CFO Thomas Freyman: "Dividends are an important part of Abbott's investment identity and a valued component of our balanced use of strong cash flow." The company, which plans to resume stock buybacks in 2012, generated record operating cash flow exceeding $9 billion in 2011, and investors reaped $3 billion in dividends. By the end of this year, 124-year-old Abbott is expected to complete its previously announced plan to separate into two publicly traded companies, one in research-based pharmaceuticals and the other in diversified medical products.